Occasionally there is confusion about the difference. Especially when the doctor diagnoses dementia, but not Alzheimers. I have listed several definitions of dementia - from easy to understand to more difficult.
From chclibrary.com Dementia is a loss of mental ability severe enough to interfere with normal activities of daily living, lasting more than six months, not present since birth, and not associated with a loss or alteration of consciousness.
From BUPA Dementia is a broad term for a range of conditions that involve loss of mental ability and so causes problems with memory, language, behaviour and emotions. Dementia is most common in the elderly. Around five percent of people over the age of 65 are affected to some extent.
From laborlawtalk.com Dementia: The loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. Dementia is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. Symptoms may also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior. Dementia is irreversible when caused by disease or injury but may be reversible when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression.
From healthcentral.com - The term dementia refers to an organically caused brain disorder resulting in an overall, or global, loss of intellect or essential mental capacity, usually accompanied by changes in personality, behavior and other character traits. The most striking changes involve memory and performance in almost all areas of life.
Dementia usually results from a widespread destruction of, or interference with, cells in diverse areas of the brain, with consequent loss of mental functions previously controlled by those cells.
From canadiancontent.com Dementia is a clinical state characterized by loss of function in multiple cognitive domains. The most commonly used criteria for diagnoses of dementia is the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric Association). Diagnostic features include : memory impairment and at least one of the following: aphasia (speech), apraxia (purposeful movement), agnosia (recognition), disturbances in executive functioning. In addition, the cognitive impairments must be severe enough to cause impairment in social and occupational functioning. Importantly, the decline must represent a decline from a previously higher level of functioning. Finally, the diagnosis of dementia should NOT be made if the cognitive deficits occur exclusively during the course of a delirium.
There are many different types of dementia (approximately 70 to 80). Some of the major disorders causing dementia are: Degenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease, Pick's Disease) Vascular Dementia (e.g., Multi-infarct Dementia) Anoxic Dementia (e.g., Cardiac Arrest) Traumatic Dementia (e.g., Dementia pugilistica [boxer's dementia]) Infectious Dementia (e.g., Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) Toxic Dementia (e.g., Alcoholic Dementia)
--------------------------
In other words, dementia is the loss of mental abilities the person once had. The loss is severe enough to effect the ability to function in activities of life.
Some use the explanation that dementia is a set of symptoms (memory impairment and loss of other mental abilities) and Alzheimers is a disease that causes these symptoms.
Alzheimers is one type or cause of dementia. It is a specific disease process that produces microscopic plaques and tangles in the damaged brain. These are what they look for when an autopsy is done to confirm diagnosis. Aproximately 60% of people with a dementia have Alzheimers as the cause. A specific characteristic of Alzheimers is that short term memory is attacked specificly by the alzheimers process (attacking the hippocampus), so a person with alzheimers is more likely to have the problems with repeatedly asking the same question over and over again because they are unable to hold onto the answer that they are given.
Caregivers of Alzheimer LOs can use the memory loss to their advantage. When their LO wants to "go home" for instance, they can be told that it can be done tomorrow. The inability to remember this makes this strategy work. People with other dementias, might have enough memory making ability to remember this promise.
When the doctor says "dementia" he has not diagnosed the specific cause of the dementia. Although Alzheimers is responsible for at least 60% of dementias. Some doctors are not concerned about a specific diagnosis. They assume alzheimers until something makes it look like a different type.
[This Message was Edited on 08/18/2008]
